The world's 15 worst war zones

Omar Sanadiki/ReutersResidents arrive on foot to inspect their homes in Homs on May 14, 2014. The fall of Syria’s third largest city to government forces was a major blow to the opposition and a boost for Assad.

Sadly, with fighting and wars raging across the Middle East, Eastern Europe, Africa, and Asia, death tolls are on the rise in conflict zones around the globe. The past year has been one of the worst in recent memory.

Some of the worst bloodshed has been occurring in Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan, but all areas are tragic.

Here are the most dangerous war zones around the world.

1.) The death toll in the world's most brutal conflicts climbed by more than 28 per cent last year from 2013 with bloodshed in Syria worse than all others for the second year running. More than 76,000 people were killed in Syria last year, up from 73,447 in 2013.

Smoke rises over Syrian town of Kobani after an airstrike, as seen from the Mursitpinar border crossing on the Turkish-Syrian border in the southeastern town of Suruc in Sanliurfa province, October 18, 2014.

Source: The Project for the Study of the 21st Century

2.) Around 21,000 lives were lost in Iraq in the last year as the government fought with Islamic State.

An explosion is seen during a car bomb attack at a Shi'ite political organisation's rally in Baghdad, April 25, 2014.

Source: Reuters

3.) Approximately 14,638 were killed in Afghanistan, up from 10,172 in 2013.

An Afghan National Army (ANA) soldier is seen through damaged glass as he keeps watch at the Forward Base in Nari district near the army outpost in Kunar province, February 24, 2014.

Source: Reuters

4.) Nigeria was the fourth deadliest conflict with 11,529 fatalities. The intensifying conflict with Boko Haram resulted in almost three times those killed in 2013.

Security and emergency agency staff walk pass blood-stained walls while investigating at the Kano Central Mosque in Kano November 29, 2014, after gunmen set off three bombs and opened fire on worshippers at the main mosque in north Nigeria's biggest city Kano.

Source: Reuters

5.) Fighting between rebels and government forces in South Sudan killed 6,389 people last year. Both sides have been accused of ethnic-based atrocities, mass rapes, and using child soldiers in the world's newest nation.

Rebel fighters hold up their rifles as they walk in front of a bushfire in a rebel controlled territory in Upper Nile State February 13, 2014.

Source: Reuters

6.) The conflict between Pakistan and the Pakistani Taliban killed 5,496 people. The Pakistani Taliban are allied with the Afghan militants of the same name and share a similar jihadist ideology, but they operate as a separate entity, focused on toppling the Pakistani state and establishing strict Islamic rule in the nuclear-armed nation.

Women mourn their relative Mohammed Ali Khan, 15, a student who was killed during an attack by Taliban gunmen on the Army Public School, at his house in Peshawar December 16, 2014.

Source: Reuters

7.) Fighting in Sudan killed 5,335 people last year. Sudan and South Sudan still remain among the world's deadliest wars. If the countries had remained unified, the combined death toll would be higher than Afghanistan in the number three spot.

A woman stands at the site of a house that was burned down during an attack by rebels in Mellit town in North Darfur March 24, 2014.

Source: Reuters

8.) Fighting in Ukraine took the lives of 4,707 people last year, a dramatic increase for a country at peace in 2013. Its death toll exceeded conflicts in Somalia, Libya, and Central African Republic.

A pro-Russian rebel displays a captured Ukrainian flag at the destroyed airport in Luhansk, eastern Ukraine, September 14, 2014.

Source: Reuters

9.) The conflict in Somalia killed 4,447, up from 3,153 in 2013. Al-Shabaab often targets official buildings and politicians in the capital Mogadishu in its efforts to topple the Western-backed government and impose its strict interpretation of Islam.

Somali government soldiers ride in their truck as they take up positions outside the Parliament building during a clash with Al Shabaab militants in the capital Mogadishu, May 24, 2014.

Source: Reuters

10.) Fighting in Central African Republic claimed 3,347 lives last year, up from 2,364 in 2013.

A girl sits at the back of a truck as she prepares to flee sectarian violence with other Muslim families in a convoy escorted by African Union (AU) peacekeepers towards the border with Cameroon, in the town of Bouar, west of the Central African Republic March 9, 2014.

Source: Reuters

11.) Fighting between rival groups in Libya claimed 2,825 people last year, up from 643 in 2013. Islamist militants who have allied themselves to the Islamic State group that controls parts of Iraq and Syria have recently spread their reach in the divided country, posing a challenge to the Tripoli-based government and its allied factions which have engaged them in battle.

A building on fire, which witnesses say was hit by a rocket, burns after clashes between rival militias in the Sarraj district in Tripoli August 23, 2014.

Source: Reuters

12.) The Israel-Palestinian conflict claimed 2,365 lives last year, a massive increase in the region following 2013.

Palestinians walk past a fire following what witnesses said was an Israeli air strike on a building in Gaza City July 24, 2014.

Source: Reuters

13.) Fighting in Yemen claimed 1,500 lives last year, up from 600 in 2013. The advance of the Iranian-backed Houthis into the capital in September and to other regions, mainly in central and eastern Yemen, has been met with resistance from armed Sunni tribes, some of whom are backed by al Qaeda militants.

A boy stands near a destroyed armoured vehicle on a road in the northwestern province of Omran June 6, 2014.

Source: Reuters

14.) Conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo claimed 1,235 lives, down from 1,976 in 2013.

A man, killed after a boat carrying mostly Congolese refugees capsized, is seen inside a boat at the shores of Lake Albert during rescue operations by the Uganda Marine Unit in Ntoroko southwest of Uganda's capital Kampala, March 23, 2014.

Source: Reuters

15.) Conflict in India claimed 976 lives last year, up from 885 in 2013.

An Indian paramilitary trooper keeps guard near a polling station during the second phase of the state assembly election in Kulangham, north of Srinagar, December 2, 2014.

Source: Reuters

War is hell.

A Free Syrian Army fighter looks through a hole from a cave in Maaret al-Naaman village, in Idlib October 17, 2013.